What am i doing wrong?!

[mymatedavep]

Hey all

I recently bought a new grill and i'm trying to use it as a smoker. I did the following:

Coals on one side with water pan above.
minion method

I filled the large chimney starter up with cold coals and tipped them in cold to the grill (so i know roughly how many I used)
I then half filled the smaller chimney and got them hot for 20 minutes and tipped them on top of the cold coals.
Had vents open at this stage
When temp got to 230F i half closed the bottom vent.
2 hours later I have no vents open and we are at 344F, water pan is almost empty, no meat on yet and all the coals are grey and smouldering hot.

Its been on for 2 hours now and the temp is up really high with all vents closed. I gradually closed the vents to try and calm the temperature increase but it hasn't worked.
So i wonder if i put too many lit coals on to start with? Or is too much air getting in through the top vent? I read this should always be open to prevent creosote forming on the meat.

I've attached some pictures of the setup.

Any ideas very welcome as this is a trial before a bbq on saturday.

Thanks
David

 

[JCAP]

Others with much more experience than me will probably comment but my guess is that you started with too many hot coals. In my big bullet smoker I only use like 10-15 lit coals for the minion method. How many lit coals did you start with?

 

[William89]

I would try using less lit coals. Like 6-10. When it gets close to 200 close the intake vents and see what happens.

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Same as jcap just said someone else with way more experience can probably help more than me but sounds like too many coals maybe? Def leave the top vent wide open and control the temp and air flow with the bottom vents.

 

[fivetricks]

I also only use about 6-8 hot coals to get to about 250 in a 55 gallon drum.

 

[ristau5741]

like others say, too much coals

closing vents will not cool smoker, it'll heat it up, open vent the fire will heat up.
I usually have to open the lid of the smoker until it cools off. then put lid back on.

 

[jokensmoken]

I'm guessing same as everyone else...to many lit coals to start...
I spread my unlit briquettes right up against on side of my kettle going about 1/3 the way around and put some wood chunks in with the unlit briquettes and light about 8 or 10 briquettes (no more) and add them to one end of the pile...this is a modified "snake" technique (google or youtube "WSM snake technique) I'm not near as particular about stacking my unlit briquettes as some and still maintain low and slow temps quit easily.
Walt

 

[mymatedavep]

Thanks everyone for your input. I'll be trying again tomorrow and will go with 6 lit coals and close the bottom vent when we hit 200F. I'll let you know how i get on! Thanks again, David